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I throw my arm over my eyes, not actively hiding but definitely shy. "You know."

Jace's fingers loosen around my legs, and I miss it—all of it—instantly. "Say it."

I sit forward, propping myself up on my elbows as I look down at him, waiting. His expression is steady, his eyes desperate for my answer like if he doesn't hear it, his world might collapse. "No one's made me come this way since…"

It still doesn't feel like a hardship I've earned, so my voice fades out.

But his doesn't.

"Since I last did?"

I hesitate, then nod.

"Fuck," he whispers, his breath even warmer on my center, his eyes dropping there too. "Why?"

The question takes me back, strengthening my words again. "Why?"

"Yes, why." His jaw tics as his eyes trail back up to mine, not quite making it there until he speaks again. "Because you haven't done this or…"

Now his words fall off as if he's afraid to say what he's thinking.

What he hopes to be true.

I lock eyes with him, needing him to hear me. Needing him to know.

"Because no one has been able to make me like you could."

His teeth clench so hard I hear grinding.

And it encourages me more.

"I usually have to touch myself at the same time like—"

He swats away the hand that I've started slowly walking toward my clit. "Don't you dare," he demands.

I suck in a quick breath, my thighs tightening simultaneously.

"This pussy is mine, now, Lenny." He dives back down, running his tongue all the way up. I swear I see the corners of his lips curl as he sucks at the top before finally pulling back. "Always has been."

Time flashes before my eyes—the past, the future, a calendar with a date somewhere three weeks in the future circled in bright red marker. But I shove all of that down.

Because nothing can ruin this moment. Not now.

And nothing can make what he said untrue.

My hips writhe beneath him, desperate for more—his tongue, his lips, his touch.

Instead, Jace pushes toward the bed. He straddles my legs with his arms—full and straining—as he inches toward me, dropping kisses in all the places I feel it most.

My inner thigh.

The divot near my hip.

The dip that falls right below my ribs.

Then he makes his way higher—

Swirling his tongue around each aching peak.